The Monster Diaries
by LilPotterfanfic
Summary: In the third and final installment of The Damsel in Distress Diaries, the hunter has become the hunted. Sidney and Damon have survived each other, Katherine, and Klaus, but they now face an enemy more powerful than they've ever dreamed of. Brought to life by Alaric's death, the ruler of the Other Side seeks to destroy the world as we know it. And nothing will ever be the same.
1. The World Without You

**The Monster Diaries  
Chapter 1: The World Without You**

My prey's name was Adam.

I could smell him through the tumult of sensation assaulting my nose; that salty, popcorn-y essence familiar to me after three months on the road with Klaus. The bar reeked of beer over everything else. I caught whiffs of sweat and cheap cologne from the hillbillies packed into the roadside bar in Bumfuck, Kentucky.

Adam was exactly the kind of guy I would have gone for in high school: Dark, curly hair, leather jacket, light stubble and, most importantly, he was a werewolf.

He sat alone at the bar, watching me over the rim of his beer. His nostrils were flared: He could smell what I was, just as I could smell who he was.

I grinned as I slid into the stool next to his. "I'd ask if you come here often, but I'd rather not be cliché."

Adam didn't answer, just raised a brow at me as he swallowed down his beer.

"What's your name?" I tried instead.

"Adam," he answered gruffly, but of course, I already knew that.

"I'm Eve," I threw back.

He snorted reluctantly and surrendered a tight smile. "No, you're not."

"No," I agreed. "I'm not. I'm Sidney." I stuck a hand out for him to shake. "Hi."

He shook my hand, palm rough against mine, and said; "What's a vamp doin' out here? I thought your kind preferred the cities?"

"We do," I told him. "I'm just passing through, looking for some company- someone to talk to. How about you? I didn't think there was a pack around here."

"There isn't," Adam said simply, and we didn't talk about it again.

Instead, we talked about football, then soccer, then the World Cup (I had managed to catch a match or two while on the road). I pulled more smiles out of him, quickly followed by a few chuckles, and before midnight, his fate was sealed. We pulled on our jackets, his eyes fixed on my chest, and left the bar. I tried not to feel too guilty about it.

The motel was a few streets over from the bar. It was trashy, but it was also the only one in the town. Adam was too preoccupied with ripping my tank top off to be suspicious. He should have been. I was hoping he would have been.

We fell onto the bed, and Klaus struck.

With a muffled scream and a loud clatter, Klaus had the werewolf tied to one of the bed frames. I was thankful there was no one staying in the rooms around us to overhear the commotion. I didn't want to have to kill another innocent person tonight.

"Nice work, love," Klaus quipped at me as he gagged Adam with one of the pillowcases.

I tried not to watch and shrugged in answer. "Can I leave?"

"Sure," Klaus agreed. As I walked out of the room, he called after me; "No phone calls, lover!"

I sucked down the night air, filtering through the smells of cigarette and gasoline to get to the clean, woodsy scent I was after. I could see the stars better, as a vampire. This was one of the things I was grateful for, along with the fact that I wasn't the one who had to torture Adam. Klaus never made me torture the ones I had lured in. I wondered how long it would take before he did.

It had been maybe two months since we had left Mystic Falls, since I had died. We had spent the summer driving up and down the East Coast, looking for a pack of wolves to turn into hybrids. It was the graduation road trip of my dreams—just with more murder.

The journey had passed in a bloodstained blur of gas station coffee, cheap beer and hot summer nights. I tried not to think much about the looks Klaus sent me sometimes, or the afternoons when we would joke around with each other. He was growing on me in this weird, skin-scratching way. I told myself it was just the sire bond. Kept telling myself even when he would brush his hands over my shoulders and I would question everything.

_Why hadn't my family come for me?_

"Sidney," Klaus called from the room. "Could you come in here, darling?"

With a sigh, I did. The motel room was significantly gorier than it had been when I left. I didn't want to know how Klaus had gotten blood on the ceiling.

Adam was still alive, sans gag. His torn-up chest heaved up and down with breath. His eyes focused on me when I walked in, bloodshot and teary. Klaus grinned at me from the mini fridge, tapping a beer bottle against his denim-clad thigh.

"Would you mind too terribly finishing for me, lover?"

I looked at Adam. "Do I have to?"

"Sweetheart." Klaus sounded dangerous now. That was a resounding "yes".

I drew closer to Adam. He looked up at me, and there was hatred in his eyes, and God if that didn't hurt.

_Elena,_ that voice in my head whispered. _Jeremy, Stefan, Caroline, Keeley, Bonnie. Damon._

I put a hand on Adam's chest. "I'm sorry," I whispered. And then I ripped out his heart.

We didn't spend anymore time at the motel. Klaus steered us onto I-65 North, the windows down and the wind ripping hair away from my face. He glanced over at me from the driver's seat.

"Aren't you wondering where we're going?" he teased.

I raised a brow and shot back; "I've learned not to care."

Klaus snorted even though I hadn't been joking. "Chicago, love."

"Oh." This did shock me. "Why?"

He shrugged noncommittally even as one of his toothier (_danger, danger_) grins grew across his face. "You're going to meet my little sister."

* * *

Rebekah's situation was more than slightly fucked up.

Elena and Jeremy annoyed me sometimes. Hell, Jeremy had punched me once (on accident, but still). And once, in fourth grade, Elena had pissed me off so badly that I had squirted mustard in her hair. But never in my wildest dreams had I ever been so angry that I would stab them and lock them in coffins for a couple of decades.

Despite all of this, Rebekah was a very blasé sort of girl. She reminded me of Caroline in a way that hurt: all bouncy blonde ringlets and dangerous smiles. She demanded I come shopping with her, and Klaus was compelled to agree on my behalf.

This was the first time in a very long time that I had been alone for an extended period with someone who wasn't Klaus. It was surreal to have "girl time" once again. It reminded me too much of Sutter, of Elena, of _Anastasia or Jenna_—and boy did that fucking hurt.

I didn't know how to handle myself. The mall we were in was too crowded, too busy. I hadn't been around this many humans since being turned, and my fingernails pierced the skin of my palms every time I clenched my fists.

Rebekah looked just as overwhelmed as I felt, and I couldn't stop myself. The big sister in me was riled up, and I took her hand. "Stop worrying," I muttered as we approached one of the department stores. "You're going to be okay."

This somehow seemed to calm Rebekah down. She took on a girlish excitement as we began to shop, very quickly assembling a pile of clothes in one of the dressing rooms. I found myself blinking in confusion when she thrust a handful of tank tops my way.

"Yours is bloodstained," she told my raised eyebrows. "Unnoticeable to a human, but more than enough warning for a vampire." A grin grew on Rebekah's mouth. "Just thought you should know."

I ended up exchanging the black tank top I had been wearing all summer for a red one, the same color as the blood I had been spilling.

Rebekah kept up a steady stream of chatter as she tried on her small mountain of clothes. Eventually, I found myself sinking into it, giving a smile here, an attempt at a joke there. She was unendingly curious about the world she had woken up in. I told her about cellphones and rock music, movies and high schools, though I found myself unable to tell her much about my own high school experience. Those memories, like a good chunk of the others, were too painful to think about most days.

"So," she drawled after a while, checking herself out in the short green dress she had picked. "What is going on between you and my brother?"

I blinked at her. "Um…. Nothing?"

"You certainly don't sound sure of that."

"I mean…" I looked at her, gauging her. How honest could I be?

Rebekah had been daggered by Klaus, left to rot in a coffin in Chicago for nearly a century. How loyal could she be to her brother?

So, I said; "He… turned me. Killed my family. My best friend. My sister. I guess I'm his minion, or whatever."

Rebekah snorted. "And is that all? 'Minion'? Trust me, love, that's never stopped him before. He's bedded many a crony."

I rolled my eyes, flushing despite myself. "No, it's not—It's all. That's all we are."

But was it really?

Once, we had gotten nachos in a dive bar, drunk ourselves silly and gone stargazing.

Once, we had put on a Bon Jovi cd and sang like idiots for an afternoon.

Once, he had kissed my cheek after finding a werewolf, and his lips had lingered.

But Damon… _Damon hadn't come for me. Why hadn't he come for me?_

Something in my face must have betrayed me because Rebekah's smile grew still wider and toothier. "There's someone back home," she probed, "isn't there?"

I nodded softly because it was all I could really do, and my dead heart _ached._

* * *

The thing that I've learned probably the most about in my time as a vampire is blood: the way it smells, tastes, feels. The splatters it makes, bursting out the mouths of crying werewolves. The tackiness of it against your skin as you're bathed in it. The heat of it in your mouth as you're ripping out a wolf's neck.

An afternoon of carnage went by, and Klaus had worked himself into as manic a state as I'd ever seen him. After ten failed attempts at hybrid-making, Rebekah and I stood to the side. We watched him try and fail countless times. The waters of Lake Michigan lapped against the shore, and we watched wolves die.

Rebekah didn't look it, but I could tell she was tense. I was tense, too. I always was when we found wolf packs. Because if he found out…

Well, I was about to experience that rage. _Was_ experiencing it.

Klaus knew—or almost knew, at the very least. And Elena…

My family was about to be in some very serious trouble.

But then Klaus turned to me, eyes caught between red and gold and mouth dripping with gore, and I realized that I was in worse trouble than she would be.

I blinked. Rebekah screamed. The world flew by and my spine _snapped. _The tree that caught me splintered. I was lucky none of the wood pierced my heart.

Or maybe unlucky. It depended on just how much pain Klaus cared to inflict on me.

"Why," Klaus snarled, more wolf than man, "is this not _working_?"

A spat out a mouthful of blood (and maybe some teeth?). "Hell, if I know."

"Funny. Funny girl." Klaus threw me through another two trees, proving that I was, in fact, not funny enough for him. "But rather than jokes, dearest one"—a punch to the face—"I'd like _answers._"

He kicked me, and I went barreling into the lake. When I resurfaced, he was there with a hand to my neck. "Now, if you please."

I maintained my silence, even as I felt that part of him in my brain pushing and prying and crushing my will. I wouldn't betray my family.

_Your family who hasn't come after you_, that voice whispered. _Your family who forgot you. Your family who doesn't care about you anymore._

"Martyrdom isn't attractive, Sidney," Klaus whispered. And then he dropped me and turned away. The whisper continued; "She's still alive. Isn't she?"

I didn't answer. He didn't need me to.

For a long stretch of minutes, Klaus shattered his way through the sparse trees surrounding us while Rebekah and I watched in stunned, scared silence. When he was finished, he ran blood-soaked hands through his hair and straightened his crimson-dyed shirt.

"Well, ladies," he snarled, already making his way to the car. "It would seem we'll be on the road again."

"Where to?" Rebekah had the courage to ask.

"Mystic Falls." Klaus sent me a threatening sort of grin. "Sidney and I are going to see her family again."

* * *

**A/N: And there we have it! Only about a year late. I did promise to keep this series going, didn't I? **

** All jokes aside, I do owe you guys a very big apology. Life just got in the way. Expect updates on this story and flood my inbox if you don't get them. They may come slowly, but they will come, I swear. **

** On the business side of things, **_**The Monster Diaries**_** will be the shortest and last installment of **_**The Damsel in Distress Diaries**_** series. I will mostly just be tying up loose ends and finding a way to get Sidney the heck out of Mystic Falls, while also setting the stage for Keeley to take over in **_**The Lunatic Diaries.**_

** I'm not sure when Chapter Two will be here, but if it's not out by the Fourth of July, hunt me down and chain me to my laptop until it gets out.**

_**Next time:**__ Sidney returns to Mystic Falls, but brings with her a monster the gang thought they'd seen the last of. Senior Prank Night becomes a horror movie as Keeley and Stefan are pitted against each other, and Stefan is forced to confront the darkness inside of him. Sidney's loyalty to her family is thrown in jeopardy when she is finally forced to wonder just why they never came after her._


	2. No Place Like Home

**The Monster Diaries**  
**Chapter 2: No Place Like Home**

Elena's birthday party had been a mistake.

All of it, from the margaritas Keeley had chugged with Caroline to the beer pong she had played with Stefan. Especially the beer pong she had played with Stefan. They both had terrible aim and stood absolutely no chance against Matt and Tyler, the beer pong kings of Mystic Falls.

Stefan's drunkenness was a testament to their failure. It takes a lot to get a vampire as smashed as he was. His hand was in Keeley's as they stumbled through the backyard, both their cheeks flushed with zinging excitement.

"Where are we going?" she gasped around her laughter.

Stefan shrugged, then looked back at her and decided; "The pond. I'm hot."

"Good," Keeley giggled back. "'Cause I'm hot, too."

"Yeah, I know."

"Not that kind of hot!"

They picked their way through the forest surrounding the Boarding House, snickering and whispering to each other. The night air was humid and clung to Keeley's skin and hair, wrapping her in warmth. The cicadas began to make themselves known as the noise of the party died down behind them and the pond appeared.

Stefan threw himself in with wild abandon, clothes and all. Keeley shrieked with hysterical amusement and kicked off her flip flops before following him in. The water was cooler than the air, and deep enough at the center of the pond that Keeley couldn't touch the ground.

It was the first time in a long time either of them had felt okay enough to have fun, and they made the most of it. It wasn't long before a water fight broke out, and not long after that before they were "sneaking up" on each other and tugging them under.

It was as Stefan was pulling Keeley back up out of the water that it happened. He overshot and pulled her up, right against his chest. She could feel the hardness of his abs through his thin, wet shirt, and he held her there, stunned at the feeling of her breath on his sternum.

The skirt of her dress, which had first ballooned around her, was wet and heavy enough to cling to her now. But Stefan's hands were skimming their way up her bare thighs, raising the skirt precious centimeter by centimeter. They came to rest, large and hot, at her waist. This close to him, she could smell the beer still lingering on his breath. See the flecks of green in his hazel eyes.

They were kissing before either of them knew it.

Stefan was the first to pull away. "This was a mistake," he whispered. And was gone before Keeley could open her eyes.

* * *

Vampirism threw everything into deep, tangible focus.

I could taste the crispness of the air on my tongue, feel every pebble of gravel under the heels of my boots. I could smell the waterfall. I'd never been able to do that from the school parking lot before.

Mystic Falls hadn't changed, but I had.

I didn't know if vampires could throw up, but I felt like I was about to. The light from the school windows swallowed up patches of night…

My family might be in there… Rebekah was making some comment about how the school looked like a prison… I might be able to see them again, might be able to hold them again… Klaus's arm was a vice over my shoulders. I couldn't remember the last moment I had seen my family… Couldn't remember…

The last time I had seen Damon, he had been comatose in bed, near to a second death. Was he alive? Had my sacrifice been worth it? Why hadn't he come for me?

Why hadn't any of them come for me?

Klaus pushed the door open, and we walked into the school.

* * *

"You're being weird."

Keeley tried her best not to groan aloud at Caroline, scrubbing hands across her face instead. "I'm always being weird."

"Like, more than normal," Caroline snapped. She punctuated this with a squirt of shaving cream on the principal's desk chair. "Like, being ultra weird instead of just mega weird."

"Now you're being weird." Keeley was busy taping memes over the pictures on the desk and bookshelf, distracting herself from what she was sure was a beautiful eye roll forming itself on Caroline's face.

"It's about Stefan," Caroline continued, "isn't it?"

"No," Keeley lied flawlessly. She tried her best not to look over at Stefan, who could she just barely see through the small window set into the door, blowing up enough balloons to fill the front office.

Caroline snorted. "Um, false. You guys have been even more awkward around each other than usual since Elena's party. What happened?"

Keeley could have told her. She wanted to tell her. But Caroline would undoubtedly freak out, and things were finally starting to feel normal again. Keeley didn't want to mess up their group's dynamic even more. It had already suffered enough after Sidney's death.

So Keeley said, "Please, just leave it."

Caroline was the queen of not being able to "leave it", but she nodded and backed off for the moment. They finished defacing the principal's office and made their way into the small reception area. Here, Stefan proceeded to prove all of Caroline's theories correct by nodding awkwardly at them and blushing when he caught Keeley's eye.

"O-_kay_," Caroline drawled, glancing between the two of them conspiratorially. "We're supposed to be meeting back with the others in the gym."

"Right," said Keeley.

The walk there was uncomfortable. It was that kind of awkward that had permeated their trio for a week now, punctuated only by Caroline's weak attempts at conversation starters and Keeley's forced-cheery replies.

Things weren't any less awkward inside of the gym. Elena, Bonnie, and Tyler were the only three there, and while the latter two were okay enough, everything about Elena was discomfort these days. She had been more ghost than person since the day Sidney had died, eyes empty and expressions carefully blank. She and Jeremy were very near shadow-people. They had sold the house soon after everything and moved in with the Salvatores, all four of them nursing their broken hearts together. It wasn't until just recently that Elena had begun pasting a ghastly fake smile on her face, a skeletal attempt at her former, warm disposition.

"The trophy case is taken care of," she alerted Keeley and co. at their entrance. "Anyone feel like taking the front entrance?"

And a monster's voice replied: "We could help you with that, love."

* * *

When Klaus, Sidney, and a beautiful blonde girl entered the gym, Keeley wondered if she had finally slipped into that deep end she had been courting for so long now. But Elena gave a cry of shock, Stefan moved to guard her, and Keeley was forced to realize that no, this was not an illusion.

Sidney Gilbert was alive.

So what in the flippity flappity _fuck_ was she doing with Klaus Mikaelson?

Sidney's face gave no answers. It was carefully devoid of emotion, refusing to face away from Klaus's back, no matter how many choked sobs Elena gave. Her mouth was a tight line. Her body seemed to possess a certain… harshness that it hadn't before. Keeley couldn't think of a word to describe it, another way to say it, but Sidney seemed… faded, somehow. A black and white version of the girl she had been three months ago.

"Sidney," Elena kept whispering. "Sidney, Sidney, _Sidney_. How?"

"I hate to interrupt the family reunion," Klaus purred, not sounding very sorry at all, "but I really must inquire, Elena: How are you alive? My dear Sidney hasn't been entirely forthcoming on the matter."

(Keeley didn't miss the way Sidney flinched at that.)

Stefan jumped to the Gilberts' defense. "Does it matter? Whatever you're here for, you can't have it. The ceremony is over. You have no reason to hurt Elena now. Let Sidney go and leave."

Klaus grinned at him. "Now why would I do that? Sidney's been such a good friend to me."

(Now Sidney definitely flinched.)

"Let her go," Elena begged, finally finding her voice. "I don't know what you did to her, but let her go. Sidney! Sidney, please look at me."

Sidney bit her lip in response. She peered searchingly at Klaus, who nodded, before saying, in an entirely-too-even voice: "I'm fine, Elena. I'm fine, I promise."

Elena let out a broken sob. She seemed ready to throw herself at her sister, but Stefan took firm hold of her wrist. Keeley was mad that it bothered her. Now wasn't the time for misplaced jealousy.

The blonde who had come in with Klaus and Sidney finally spoke up. Keeley had nearly forgotten she was there. "Does it matter how the doppelganger survived?" she questioned, tossing a silky-looking curl over her shoulder. "The point is that she did."

Klaus raised a considering brow. "Fair point, Rebekah. I suppose now the only thing is to figure out what we should do about it."

"Punish me," Elena insisted. "Whatever you do, just do it to me. Let Sidney go, God dammit,_ let her go_!"

Klaus's face twisted into an ugly, animalistic thing. "Sidney," he said, in a voice like the scrape of a knife. His eyes turned on Keeley, and her blood ran cold. "Feed from her."

Something in Sidney's face twisted and strained at itself. "You can't be serious," she implored. "I won't. I won't do it."

And for a brief moment, despite all instinct, Keeley was not afraid, even as Caroline and Stefan took protective stances in front of her. Sidney Gilbert would never hurt her.

Klaus's eyes narrowed. He looked particularly wolfish now, and that prey part of Keeley's brain screamed at her: _Run, run, run, before the wolves come!_

"Sidney," he hissed, and unbelievably, she flinched, "feed. Now."

Sidney's hands twitched. "No."

"Do it, now!" Klaus bellowed, and in a flash, like a puppet thrown about on strings, Sidney stood before Keeley.

"Sidney, no!" Elena shrieked.

Caroline moved to stop her but was thrown aside with inhuman strength. Stefan moved, too, but Klaus caught him, holding him in a perverse headlock.

"Watch," he hissed into Stefan's ear. "Watch, old friend."

"Keeley!" Stefan groaned, gasping for air.

And Sidney stood in front of Keeley, crying, and took her by the shoulders. "I'm sorry," she whispered between sobs, "but I have to do this. I have to."

And she bit. Down.

Keeley didn't think she had screamed. It was like a sick point of pride for her, now, that she didn't scream anymore. What did that say about her? That she was used to being fed on? She didn't scream, but the others certainly did. A cacophony of shrill, high-pitched noise and pain in her neck all swirling together…

When she opened her eyes again, she lay on the ground. Caroline's worried, tear-streaked face was above hers, cold hands stroking through her hair.

"You're alive," she whispered. "Thank God."

"Were you worried?" Keeley rasped back.

Caroline just shook her head. Didn't laugh. Keeley didn't blame her. Now wasn't the right time for laughter.

Though the world still wasn't in focus, Keeley raised herself up on her elbows, wincing at the way it made her head spin. Caroline moved aside to let her see, and the scene that met Keeley's eyes was blood-chilling.

Sidney, covered in blood, eyes blank, lowering a dead Tyler to the ground. Elena, white-faced, staring at her sister as if she were a ghost (and in a way, she was). Bonnie, shaking with tears, desperately trying to reason with a mad man while Rebekah held her by the throat. And Stefan. Stefan still in Klaus's grip, speaking calmly even as he was forced to stare deep into the eyes of the beast.

"Stefan," Keeley whispered.

If he heard her, he gave no sign that he did.

"I am tired of this soft veneer, Stefan," Klaus was growling. "What happened to the Ripper I knew so long ago?"

And now, now Stefan's eyes flashed toward her, warm like whiskey even in such terrible circumstances. "I buried him. He's gone now. It's just me."

A dangerous smile was shaping itself on Klaus's mouth. _Run, run, run, the wolf has come,_ that voice in Keeley's head was shouting. Only now, it was shouting it at Stefan.

"Let's see if we can bring him out," Klaus wheedled, "shall we?"

Striking like a serpent, he grabbed at Stefan's face, forcing him to look into the eyes of the beast. Something was being hissed in a low, dangerous tone, like a knife dragging over stone. It was something that hurt, something that sounded inherently wrong. And when Stefan was released, stumbling away from Klaus, his eyes were no longer that sweet, whiskey-gold that Keeley so trusted.

They were black.

Klaus was straightening, brushing imaginary dust off of his jeans. "Now, then." His gaze returned to Keeley, who could hardly stay sitting up for fear. "Kill her."

_Why always with the killing me?_ Keeley wanted to yell. But instead, she stared at Stefan. Stefan, her best friend. Stefan, who would never hurt her. Stefan, who hadn't screamed "no", as she thought she would have. Stefan, who was staring at her, his eyes hungry.

Still standing over her, Caroline was tense. "Keeley," she whispered. "Run."

Keeley didn't move, but Stefan did. He lunged for her, moving impossibly fast across the gym. But Caroline- faithful, wonderful Caroline- was there to stop him, flying at him with strength and speed Keeley didn't know she was capable of.

"Keeley, run!" Caroline screamed now, even as Stefan tried to rip her limb from limb. "Run, Keeley!"

And Keeley ran.

* * *

Even my worst nightmares weren't this horrific.

I can't begin to describe the swirl of feelings within me, the sickness in my gut. I wanted, wanted, wanted. Wanted to hug Elena. Wanted to save my friends. Wanted to kill Klaus. (Did I want to kill Klaus?)

But I couldn't. Couldn't do any of that. All I could do was obey orders, was hold Elena like I was a stranger, like I was an enemy, like I was going to kill her. And I might have to if Bonnie wasn't back in the next minute.

And the seconds ticked by, and she wasn't.

I didn't blame her. An impossible task had been set before her, one that could take a witch far more skilled than her decades to complete, and Klaus had only given her twenty minutes. (And she wasn't allowed to leave the school, at that.) But the consequences of her actions…

Oh, God, the consequences.

The gym's buzzer went off, an awful invasive sound, and Klaus ceased the cheery tune he had been whistling. "Well, Sidney love, I suppose you know what we have to do now."

Elena was shivering in the circle of my arms. She smelled like her shampoo, like coconut and lavender, and beneath that, fear, and even further beneath that blood. It would be easy. So, so easy for me to just sink my fangs into her soft, smooth skin, to suck at the blood pumping through her veins, the same blood as mine… My sister.

She whispered, "It's okay, Sidney. It's okay. I know you don't want to. It's okay."

But it wasn't. It wasn't okay. It would never be okay if I hurt her.

Klaus was staring at me with shining, hungry eyes. He smiled, terribly beautiful, and said; "Sidney, bite her."

My hands shook. My fangs dropped down without my permission. I was covered in blood. I must have looked like a monster. I was a monster. I could smell the tears Elena was trying to hold back.

My dead heart nearly beat out of my chest, and I whispered, "No."

Klaus's eyes narrowed. "No?"

"No," I whispered, then, in a louder voice: "I won't do it. I won't hurt her." I released Elena, but the more I released myself, stumbling away from her, veins tense and tight.

How dare I disobey him? He was my sire, my master. He made me! I lov-

I shook my head, eyes screwed up tight. "You can't. You can't make me."

"I made you," he seethed. "I can make you do anything I want. I own you!"

"You-!" Elena began, indignant, but I held my hand up, silencing her.

"It's a lie," I insisted. "All of it. All of the relationship you've made between us. It's the sire bond, nothing else."

Klaus shook his head. He looked positively wild, more unhinged than I had ever seen him. His voice shook. "No. You're mine."

"I'm not."

"You are! You're _mine_!" Spit flew from his mouth. His eyes were caught between a rapid, flashing gold and red. His fangs were down, the veins of his faith black. He finally looked the monster he was. (The monster he had made me.) He pointed a clawed finger at Elena. "You feed from her, or I kill you!"

I thought I might be going insane, but I raised my chin and said, very evenly, "You won't."

With a snarl like a wildcat, Klaus was in front of me, his hand fisting against my tank top. Elena was screaming, and silently, I begged, Don't interfere. Please, Elena, just stay back. For once in her life, she listened to me.

Klaus's face was very close to mine, and I saw, beneath the wildness, the violence, that small, quivering part of him that was so alone, and so very, very afraid. (We shared that part.)

As his other hand reached for my throat, I whispered, "Niklaus, you can't make me love you."

He let me go.

I dove for Elena the moment I was free, sheltering my body with hers. He would kill her. He would rip her to shreds and me with her. There was no way-

"I release you from our bond."

A coil of tension I hadn't even known existed loosened in my gut. My shoulders drooped. A gust of air I didn't need rushed out of me. I was free.

He wouldn't look at me as he left the gym. I didn't have time to call after him, to wonder at the miracle of what had just occurred. I now had Elena to contend with.

I turned and she launched herself into my arms, a crying, snivelling, sobbing mess.

"I thought you were dead!" she cried into my neck. "Oh God, I thought you were dead!"

Blankly, stunned, I replied, "I am. I am dead."

She pulled back, grabbing my cold face in her warm hands. "You're not! You're a vampire. Oh God, what did he do to you?"

I couldn't tell her, couldn't tell her about the death and the blood (and the softness and sweetness) I had experienced that summer. So instead, I enfolded her back into my arms and buried my face in her hair. She was alive. She was safe. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

Once, Caroline, Stefan and Keeley had broken into the school after hours to play hide and seek. It was one of many outings they'd organized that summer, all of it a desperate attempt to bring some normalcy, some fun back into the destroyed lives Klaus had left in his wake. They had darted, gasping, giggling figures, through the dark hallways of the school, sweating as they crammed themselves into file cabinets and lockers. Keeley had found the best hiding spot, under the sink of one of the chemistry classrooms. No one had found her for hours, and though she had been sweaty and cramped and bored and a little anxious that she had been forgotten-

This? This was a hell of a lot worse.

In her mad dash to safety, Keeley had just barely managed to stuff her gangly limbs into a locker before Stefan had come raging out of the gym, apparently having thrown Caroline off of him. Keeley had held her breath, desperate not to bring any attention to herself. It hadn't worked. Of course it hadn't. Stefan sniffed her out like a bloodhound, and she had barely managed to stab him in the face with a pencil (screaming "sorry! Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" before she had sprinted down the hall as fast as she could.

The next however-long was scarier than any horror movie could ever be. Keeley surprised even herself with her ability to remain alive so long. She and Stefan played cat-and-mouse on every floor and in every hallway of the school, her barely evading capture and death nearly every second.

It was as she came skidding into the entry hall that things took a turn for the shitty. (Not that they weren't already quite shitty, but still- even shittier.)

Who should she run into but Klaus?

She bounced off of him, exhausted, sweaty, teary-eyed, and he leered down at her.

"Well, well, well," he purred. "What have we got here?"

Keeley had a few good curse words for him but didn't have the breath to give them. "Let," she gasped instead, head swimming, "Let- Let me go-o, he's _coming_-!"

At that moment, Stefan came streaking around the corner, looking every inch the monster Keeley had once never believed he could become. (God, was she wrong now.)

Klaus's hands turned to talons around her shoulders, and he whipped her around, forcing her to stare into the contorted, murderous face of the boy who had once been her best friend.

"Here she is," Klaus hissed. "Can't you just hear her heart pounding? Pumping all that warm, sweet blood through her little veins." He sniffed a wet trail up the side of her neck. She shuddered. "Delicious, isn't it?"

"_Fuck you!_" Keeley gasped. She lunged away from him but his hands just fastened still tighter. Her muscles whined and so did she.

Stefan wasn't moving, but his nostrils flared.

Over her shoulder, Klaus was smiling. "You need a little encouragement, old sport? Well then, here." A razor-tipped nail sliced a line in Keeley's throat. She could feel the heat of her blood seeping down her neck, staining her top. "Now, isn't that scrumptious? Tasty little treat, she is. I might just take a sip, myself."

Desperate, Keeley cried; "Stefan! Stefan, _please_! This isn't you!"

Around great huffs of breath, Stefan growled, "No, _no_." Though just what he was saying no to, Keeley hadn't the faintest idea. She didn't dare hope.

"Here," Klaus supplied, "let's make this a bit easier for you, shall we?"

And something hard connected to her leg, and the world was nothing but white, hot, screaming pain.

When Keeley could breathe again, she lay in a crumpled heap on the dirty floor, and her leg was most definitely broken.

"Kill her!" Klaus roared. "She's easy prey, Stefan! Come on! Come out, Ripper! Come out and _rip_!"

"No!" Stefan screamed. Keeley had never heard a noise of such pain from him, not even in the well full of vervain, not even when he thought Sidney had died.

Klaus gave an ear-splitting howl. Faster than Keeley's tear-filled, human eyes could track, he had seized Stefan by the jaw and was forcing that eye contact again, face red and enraged. He was cracking. Keeley could see the human in him, about to shatter.

"Turn it off," Klaus hissed, and then, in a near bellow; "_Turn it off!_"

Stefan shouted, loud, thundering, heart-breaking-

And then he went stiff, blank and empty.

Klaus released him, stepping back with a satisfied smile. "There we go," he tutted. "Not so hard in the end, was it?"

"No," Stefan replied, very calmly.

And then Keeley blinked, and they were both gone.

* * *

By the time Elena had calmed down enough to let me go, it was over. A stricken Caroline informed us that Klaus had successfully turned Tyler into one of his hybrids, while an equally distraught Keeley told us that Stefan had disappeared after being forced to "turn it off". When I told her he had turned off his humanity, she broke. It was hard to watch.

This was hardly the happy homecoming I had dreamed of.

There was barely time to think. The next few hours were a flurry of tears and nursed wounds. A heart-racing moment where Elena went missing, kidnapped by Klaus, and a frenzied search that found her hooked up to too many tubes to count in the hospital. Apparently, her blood was what made the hybrids function. I was nearly too tired to obsess over the implications of that.

Nearly.

But Klaus was gone and so was Stefan, and for the moment, I had time. I stopped by the Grille to reunite with Jeremy, and hours and hours later-

I found myself on the front porch of the Boarding House.

The stars of Mystic Falls glinted down at me, and I was overwhelmed with memory: Staring up at them on the porch swing, glad to be alive, weeping, weeping from loss…

And the beautiful, broken man, cradled in my arms, who had wept with me.

I knocked on the door.

There were a few, breathless seconds, graceful footsteps… It swung open, and Damon Salvatore stared down at me.

Moments held. Time held its breath. The very world stopped turning.

The last time I saw him, he had been near a second-death, comatose in his bed, a werewolf's bite rotting away at his forearm. I had traded my life for his, had been terrified, had wondered… Had my sacrifice been for nothing? Had Katherine gotten the blood to him in time? Why hadn't he come for me?

But now, my only wonder was at the sheer beauty of the creature before me, and at the depth of the love I felt for him.

"Sidney," he breathed, and the way he whispered it was layered with promise. "Sidney. How…?" He shook his head, beautiful, ice blue eyes screwed up tight. "You're not real. This isn't happening. It's another dream."

"Damon-" I tried.

"Go away," he insisted. "Please, go away. I can't handle… I can't handle another one."

"It's me," I tried to convince him. "Please, Damon, it's me- I'm here. I'm alive- Look!" I held his jaw, gently, in my hands, fingers shaking where they met his perfect skin.

His eyes flew open at my touch. They were wide where they gazed down at me. Another breathless moment hung between us.

"How?" he whispered.

I shrugged, seized with the sudden urge to laugh. "Klaus turned me. He said if I came with him-"

"He would save me," Damon finished. "Siddie… Oh, Siddie, I'm not worth that."

My fingers tightened. "You are," I told him, fierce, convicted of my sacrifice. "And I would do it again- a thousand times over if it meant you lived to see another day."

"You're going to be the second death of me, Gilbert," he whispered. And then his lips were on mine, and the rest of the world fell away.

That night was a mess of stars and stories and skies. Promises whispered into skin. Vows made between kissing away tears. A joining of two souls who would never seperate again. We found our way to our bed, found our way to each other, over thousands of miles and thousands of enemies. And we would do it again. Again and again if that was what it took to be together.

And as Damon's lips caressed mine, I was finally home.

* * *

**A/N: There we have it! Late, but here! I'm taking something like nineteen hours this semester (which is sort of illegal, but whatever), so expect more slow updates. I'll hopefully have chapter three by Thanksgiving, definitely by Christmas. You know the drill: Drop a review down below if you so please!**

_**Next time:** The gang battle a dehumanized Stefan and ghosts of their past (in a more than just metaphorical sense). Sidney and Damon uncover more secrets beneath the town while Keeley and Stefan uncover the previously-unspoken attraction burning between them, and an old flame back from the dead wreaks havoc on the Boarding House._


	3. Strong Enough

**The Monster Diaries  
Chapter 3: Strong Enough**

Damon was staring at me when I woke up the next morning.

I couldn't say that I blamed him. I was starving for his face, too. After so long thinking I would never get to see it again…

I raised my hand and touched it to his cheek. "Damon," I said, and there was nothing else that needed to be said.

Except for: "Sidney," he replied.

"Long time no see," I quipped with a crooked grin.

He kissed me hard. His long, piano player hands twined in my hair, pulling and gripping as if his life depended on it. It was one of many things I loved about Damon: Despite all we had been through, all we had lost, he never treated me like I would fall apart; he never treated me like I was any less strong than he knew I was.

We were both panting when he pulled away. Neither of us needed breath but somehow managed to steal it from each other.

"I missed you," he whispered against my cheek, the cool tip of his nose pressing into it. "I thought… Katherine told us you were…"

I stopped him, cupping my hand around the back of his neck. "I'm not," I said, ducking down to kiss his cold nose. "I mean, I am- dead- but not totally." I kissed his cheek. "And I'm here." I kissed his other cheek. "And I'm not leaving you." I kissed the corner of his mouth. "Never, ever again."

Damon growled, "If you don't give me a real kiss right the hell now-"

I planted my lips back on his before he could finish.

"Can we be done with the pillow talk?" I asked when we were through. "We're verging on gross-couple territory."

Damon rolled his eyes at me as he rolled himself out of the bed. He stretched, and the icy planes of his abs shimmered in the sunshine. "In case you hadn't noticed, we already are a gross couple."

"So no to stopping?"

"Absolutely no to stopping."

God, I had missed him.

He reached a hand down and tugged me from my fortress of sheets. He stepped away momentarily to toss me one of his shirts, but the moment I had pulled it over my head, his hand was back in mine. I didn't mind. I had been deprived of his touch for so long, I wanted to consume it, have it fill me up until that emptiness I had felt this summer would never return.

As we slipped out of his bedroom and down the stairs, I said, "I'm going to need my own clothes, eventually, you know. Clothes that aren't yours and involve pants," I added before he could say anything.

Damon smirked. "I'm assuming I can't convince you to wear only lingerie and never leave the house again?"

"You can't."

"Damn." He sighed deeply, easing the cricks out of his neck. "Then I suppose it's a good thing Elena keeps all your clothes up in the attic."

I was unreasonably excited by that. I had only been able to wear blood-stained tank tops and shorts all summer. I would kill for one of my dad's old flannels.

"Did you guys have a funeral for me?" I found myself asking, almost without even thinking of it before the words were pouring from me.

Damon stopped short. We had reached the living room, and he didn't answer as we sojourned to the kitchen and he set to brewing me a pot of coffee (he certainly knew the way to my heart).

"Yes," he finally said, watching as liquid caffeine dripped into the pot. "Yeah, we did. Just the Scooby gang. There was no body, obviously, so we made a memorial out by the Falls. There's a headstone, flowers. It was nice. Sad. I can take you there if you want."

I didn't answer for a while. Damon poured the coffee into a mug and served it to me, black. I sipped before saying, "Sure. I'd like that." Only Damon would understand why I would want to do something so incredibly depressing as going to see my own grave. He did and asked nothing, and I loved him deeply for it.

But Lord knows we could never get a moment of peace, and so I brought up what needed to be brought up: "Stefan."

* * *

On the morning of her first day of senior year, Keeley felt more like a bag of bruises than a person. Alaric had sternly insisted that she not take vampire blood to heal her broken leg (fuck you, Klaus), therefore her left leg would be encased in plaster for the next seven-ish weeks, taking her out of the varsity cheer season for her senior year (fuck you, Klaus).

She was too upset by Stefan's disappearance to do more than throw on a t-shirt and overalls that morning, therefore Caroline glared at her when they met up on the front steps before first period (fuck you, Klaus). This glare deepened when Rebekah came strolling into the school like she owned the place, and Keeley realized she was likely going to be her replacement on the squad (_fuck you, Klaus!_).

And, of course, everything got a million times worse when Stefan roared up to school in a vintage convertible, wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket and looking like every 80's bad boy fantasy Keeley had ever had-

Out loud, Keeley said, "Oh, _fuck you_, Klaus!"

* * *

Damon and I got a rude awakening that afternoon. The moment school let out, it was like the hounds of hell descended upon the Boarding House. We had been curled up together on the couch, nursing mugs of coffee and talking over possible get-Stefan-back plans, when the man himself came striding through the door, hair mussed like he was James Dean in _Rebel Without a Cause. _I could only gape at him, brows raised, as he waltzed past us and up the stairs like nothing in the world was wrong.

Damon was grinning. "Hear me out," he started. "I get that he's, like, a sociopathic serial killing vampire right now, but oh my God, he's so much less boring than he used to be- Ow!" I smacked him and he immediately shut up, though he didn't stop grinning.

Moments later, Stefan waltzed past us again, throwing a glib, "I'm going hunting," over his shoulder. It seemed he was finally going through his rebellious teenage vampire phase.

And then Rebekah showed up.

I jumped to my feet, shocked but somehow not angry, and demanded, "The heck are you doing here?"

Rebekah only shrugged and tossed a curl over her shoulder in a very Caroline move. "Klaus decided I should live with you while he's gone, and as you live here now…"

I turned to glare at Damon. "Since when have I been living here?" I demanded. "What happened to my house?"

It was then that Jeremy and Elena came in and immediately paused, intelligently realizing they'd walked into an absolute shit show.

"Since you died," Damon responded, seeming all too calm for my tastes. "The whole Gilbert clan moved in. Very _Brady Bunch,_ I think."

And all I could think was: _So much for the honeymoon phase._

* * *

It was a surly group that gathered at the Boarding House that night. Keeley couldn't stop glaring at Alaric, who couldn't stop glaring at everything in general. Elena, Jeremy, and Damon were all hanging all over me like they were worried Klaus was going to appear out of nowhere, twiddling his mustache to spirit me away again, and Caroline and Bonnie just looked generally rather bored and annoyed.

"So Stefan," I began, trying to ignore Elena's attempts at grabbing my hand, "has been turned into a serial killer. We should probably handle that."

"Let's kill him," Alaric stated, to cries of "no!" from everyone but Damon, who raised his brows and pursed his lips like he was actually considering it.

"We're not killing our friend," I said firmly. "So we need to capture him while we figure out a way to fix this."

We went over what we knew and made a plan from there: Stefan had been given instructions from Klaus to watch over Elena, in the interest of keeping his walking blood bank safe. Therefore, everywhere Elena was, Stefan would be. We decided to set our trap at the senior bonfire that Friday night, to distract him and vervain him, and lock him in the cells Damon kept in the Boarding House's basement for some reason. This all, of course, hinged on finding the perfect bait, which Damon suggested as-

"Keeley. You should do it."

At the same time, Keeley, Alaric, and Elena, all yelled, "_No_!"

Keeley and Elena glanced at each other, flushed dark red, and immediately looked anywhere but at the other. I stifled a snicker.

Alaric, on the other hand, immediately hissed, "You are not using my daughter as bait for a sadistic vampire serial killer. Absolutely not."

"Then who do you suggest?" Damon asked. "Because I think we can all see that Stefan's got a bit of a crush."

"He does _not_," Keeley insisted, but Caroline, looking apologetic, winced and said, "I think he probably kind of does, Keeles."

"Oh, my God!" Keeley cried, and slammed her head into the dining table.

Damon nodded, looking satisfied. "Then, if we're all in agreement, Keeley will be bait."

"Literally none of us are in agreement!" Alaric insisted.

* * *

Keeley ended up being bait.

She had never done this before, (it was usually Elena's job, after all) and hadn't the foggiest clue how to proceed. This all hinged on Stefan being attracted to her, actually _wanting her_ (more than he wanted Elena), and based on how he'd acted after their kiss, Keeley wasn't too sure that was the case.

She didn't want to think about the kiss. She didn't want to think about the way her heart turned over in her chest every time she thought about him. And she certainly, absolutely, positively didn't want to think about how much it hurt whenever she remembered that he and Elena had that whole _first-love-vampire-brooding-staring-yearning _thing going on.

So it was that Keeley was a sweaty, pasty-faced mess the night of the bonfire. She and Caroline had gotten ready and driven there together, but Caroline drifted away the moment they arrived. They wanted Keeley seemingly isolated for this.

She knew her dad, Sidney, and Damon were watching her from the thick treeline, and it just made her all the more nervous. Her sweaty hands slipped around the glass bottle of beer she was trying to open.

"Lemme help you with that."

Big hands took the bottle out of Keeley's hands and popped it open for her, not a bottle opener in sight. Stefan handed the drink back to her and Keeley could only stare up at him, open-mouthed, and try not to faint in the presence of the dark, brooding vampire of her dreams.

It was an overwhelming, dizzying realization that Stefan had actually taken the bait. Was actually looming over _her_, overwhelming _her _with his beauty and presence.

"_Shit_," Keeley whispered to herself. "I think I'm going to _faint._"

Stefan quirked an all-too-attractive brow at her. "I've been watching you, you know," he purred, and it was something a stalker would say, so it shouldn't have sounded as attractive as it irrefutably _did_. "You haven't been drinking. Shouldn't be feeling faint."

His face was close to hers and she could smell cinnamon on his breath and this close, _wow,_ his eyes were just really, really darn pretty. Intelligently, she managed to say, "Um."

"Here. Come with me." Stefan wrapped a large, hot hand around her suddenly-very-fragile-feeling forearm, and dragged her further into the dark treeline, and _wow,_ now she was really swaying on her feet. "Let's sit down somewhere."

Around her dizziness, she managed to gasp, "You're a _serial killer_. I shouldn't be going _anywhere _with you."

Stefan stopped and looked at her with Big Wet Eyes, and in the firelight, they were really too beautiful and endless and overwhelming to be fair. "I'm your best friend," he said softly, sounding, impossibly, hurt. "You don't really think I'd hurt you, do you?"

"_Caroline_ is my best friend."

"Then what am I?"

"My… person."

"Intelligent, Keeley, really." He was looming even closer now, and the hand that wasn't on her arm gently grasped her chin and pulled it closer to him. "Now, what exactly are the duties entailed to your 'person'?"

And before Keeley could think of a reply that wasn't "take me now!", Alaric stabbed Stefan with a syringe full of vervain.

* * *

A good number of things went wrong that night:

First, Elena managed to evade me and slipped into the van we were keeping Stefan in, likely to demand why Keeley had been a better bait for him than she had.

Second, someone set the van on fire. It was the exact sort of absurdity I had grown used to at that point.

Third, Elena managed to get herself and Stefan out of said fire-van, but, unfortunately-

Fourth, Stefan escaped.

And, finally, fifth, when Damon and I did make it back to the Boarding House, it was to find our bedroom in absolute shambles.

* * *

I was seething, pacing across the floor so quickly I was surprised I wasn't wearing a track into the hardwood. Damon watched me from our shredded, broken bed, face drawn in thought, hands clasped and tucked under his chin.

"It was Katherine," I insisted. "It had to be. She heard I came back and wrecked our room out of spite."

Damon was already shaking his head before I finished talking. "It couldn't have been. Jeremy and I were with her in Myrtle Beach barely a week ago. She didn't come back, said she still had business there. Plus, this isn't really her style. If it were Katherine, the whole house would be up in flames."

I nodded, disappointed, because while it did make sense, she had really been my only suspect.

"Then who?" I asked. "Who did this?"

We found out later that night. Everyone else was out either doing vampire serial killer things or at some dumb high school party, so Damon and I had the house to ourselves, and decided to celebrate with pina coladas and an 80s horror movie marathon. Halfway through _Friday the 13th, _there came a shuffling sound from the kitchen. Damon and I shared a look, and he turned down the volume on the tv before I asked him to.

"Elena? Jer?" I called. "That you?"

No answer. The shuffling stopped. Soundlessly, Damon and I rose to our feet and made our way to the kitchen. I paused to grab the pistol I kept stashed beneath the liquor bar.

No one was in the kitchen when we entered, but every single drawer and cabinet was hanging wide open like something out of _Paranormal Activity. _Damon's brows were raised, and I bit my lip hard. We had any number of enemies we could fight, but this felt more like sheer pettiness (which, in my opinion, was a very Katherine-thing to do).

It went from sheer pettiness to danger when the knives rose from their block and flung themselves at Damon.

He dodged, of course, and the blades landed, quivering, in the heavy wood door frame. I had let out a startled sort-of-cry, but once I was sure Damon was fine, I switched off the safety on my pistol and aimed at, well, nothing. There was nothing to shoot.

Damon had no reason to be out of breath, but he was still panting when he demanded, "The hell was that?"

"That was me."

I whirled and fired at Mason Lockwood.

The bullet passed right through my dead ex-boyfriend. My dead ex-boyfriend who Damon had brutally murdered, partly over jealousy because I had slept with him. My dead ex-boyfriend who maybe wasn't so dead because he was standing in front of us looking exactly the way he had the night he died.

Mason grinned at me. "Surprised to see me, babe?" he asked. "I'm surprised to be back."

Intelligently, I said, "_Fuck!_"

Damon came looming up over my shoulder, and I could hear the threat in his voice. "What do you want, dog?"

Mason's smile grew still wider, showing off a mouthful of bloodied, broken teeth. (Had Damon done that to him?) "I want to _fucking kill you, you bastard!"_

A strange, white, glowing mist was swirling around Mason, flowing straight out of his eyes, which were far too wide for a human face. His broken teeth were bared, and the mist grew brighter and thicker-looking. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I didn't want it anywhere near me and Damon. I also knew that I had no idea how to fight… whatever Mason was now.

I shut my eyes tight and braced for an impact that never came.

There was an otherworldly shriek and a flash so bright it made me glad I couldn't see it. Damon's hands came to rest on my shoulders and squeezed tight, and a sudden gust of wind blew my hair out of its ponytail. When I opened my eyes, my a familiar figure stood in Mason's place.

There were tears in my voice when I whispered, "Dad."

Grayson Gilbert smiled at me. "Hey, Siddie," he said. "It's good to see you."

* * *

Keeley really wasn't surprised anymore when random vampires came and asked her for help. This one wasn't so much a vampire anymore as a _ghost. _(And wow! Ghosts shouldn't surprise her as much as they did!) Her name was Lexi, and she said that for a long time, she had been Stefan's best friend. And that now, she wanted to help Keeley help him.

Keeley would do anything for Stefan, and even though she probably shouldn't trust this random vampire-ghost-woman, she followed her to the Boarding House.

It was empty when they arrived, but the tail end of some slasher movie was playing in the living room, so Keeley couldn't imagine the house's occupants had been gone long. The front door wasn't even locked. The Boarding House felt creepier than usual without her friends there, and Keeley couldn't help her growing trepidation as Lexi took her down to the cellar, somewhere she'd never been before.

Keeley felt even more on edge at the revelation that the cellar was, in fact, a _dungeon, _and that its current and only occupant was _Stefan._

She cried his name and flung herself to the floor on the other side of his bars. He lay, groaning and twitching, on the dirty ground a few inches from her. Something soaked into Keeley's cast, and she glanced down to see dark blood staining her white sneaker. She followed the trail to its source: a bleeding gash on Stefan's forehead.

She turned to Lexi incredulously and demanded, "What the hell did you do to him?"

"What needs to be done," Lexie insisted. Her face was round and soft and beautiful, but her jaw was set sternly. "Keeley, you love Stefan just as much as I do. I know you do. And the only way to save him from himself is to cut him off from human blood, cold-turkey. To force him to turn the Ripper off, and his humanity back on."

Keeley stared helplessly at her friend, writhing on the floor. "What's wrong with him?" she whispered, feeling weak and stupid and _human _as she did. How was she supposed to help him?

"He's going into withdrawal, just like any other addict."

Keeley couldn't look away from Stefan's face. He was _crying, _actually _crying. _She remembered thinking when Klaus had forced him to hunt her down, that was the worst pain he'd been in, the worst pain she'd ever see him in. She was wrong. _This _was the worst pain she'd ever seen him in.

And all because he couldn't drink human blood.

Was he really that addicted?

As she watched, Stefan stopped crying and sat up, wrapping strong hands around the bars and fixing her with a needy, whiskey-eyed expression. "Keeley," he begged, mouth caressing her name in ways that should be illegal, "Keeley, please, let me out. I'll die in here. Let me go."

Keeley felt herself shaking, but Lexi took her gently by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "He won't," she told Keeley. "He won't die, he'll just be upset and in pain until we get Klaus out of his system. Stand firm."

Stefan's eyes didn't move from hers. "Please," he said again. "Please, Keeley. You've gotta save me. Please. I love you."

Keeley's blood ran cold. She felt sure her heart had stopped beating, sure that the world had stopped turning.

Lexi's voice snapped her out of it. "He'll say anything right now," she warned. "Anything that might get him free. You've got to be strong for him, Keeley."

At this refusal, Stefan's face twisted into a mask of a monster. His lips pulled back into a feline snarl, and he launched himself at the bars, scratching at them and screaming obscenities.

"I'll kill you!" he yelled. "I'll rip the tongue from your mouth and the skin from your flesh! I'll suck your blood and burn your corpse! Let me out! _Let me out!"_

As she listened to Stefan rant and Lexi try to reason with him, three things became very apparent to Keeley:

First, this addiction had transformed her friend into a monster.

Second, this was something he could not save himself from, therefore-

Third, for once, Stefan needed Keeley to save him.

So she found herself telling him, "You're one of my best friends, Stefan. I love you. And so I'm going to help you, whether or not you think you need it."

With grim resignation, Lexi said, "Good, then settle in for the long haul, honey. We're going to be here for a while."

* * *

We followed my father's ghost into the woods.

He explained as he walked, just as relaxed and carefree as I remembered him being. "Your witch friends ripped the veil between here and the Other Side."

I shook off my _surprise,happiness,pain, PAIN-!_ and bit my lip. "The Other Side?" I repeated.

"Yup," Dad said, turning to look at me with bright green eyes, my green eyes, eyes I never thought I'd see again outside of my own reflection. "The in-between place, between here and the afterlife. Ghosts, witches' spirits, they all live there. Or at least they usually do. They're allowed in the land of the living 'till sunrise. Your mom and I thought I should take the opportunity and come and help you."

A lump grew in my throat. "Mom," I said again. "You guys are together, and-"

"We're at peace, Siddie," Dad told me, smiling as he did. "Can't say the same for you and your brother and sister."

I flinched. I was a vampire, and I was doing a pretty shit job at protecting my family. "I'm so glad." I didn't sound very glad.

Dad frowned, and Damon took my hand and squeezed it, but the old Lockwood slave quarters were looming up out of the darkness in front of us, so no one said anything. I had a feeling this was our destination. But how would anything in this wreck of bad memories and decay help us?

"The answers are down in the tunnels," Dad told us, "but we'll have to be quick. Only one more hour 'till sunrise."

As fast as two vampires and a ghost could, we broke through an old storm cellar door and down into a series of winding tunnels, taking us deeper and deeper underground. The air was musty down here, cold and damp, untouched by human scent for nigh on a century. Damon hadn't let go of my hand, but he clung to it tighter the further we got from the surface.

I could think of millions of things to say to my Dad but couldn't bring myself to voice any of them. Instead, I asked, "What's down here that could help us?"

Dad turned over his shoulder and smiled at me. His form seemed more substantial in the total darkness, less like a ghost, more like he was in life. "I'm not sure, but I know it can help you kill Klaus."

That sire-bond part of my brain screamed, _But I don't want to kill Klaus! _

Louder, Damon said, "Excellent!"

We walked still deeper, and the scent of vervain hit the air. Dad turned and called, "Duck!" and automatically, Damon and my heads flicked down, narrowly avoiding a line of stakes shooting over us.

"Shit!" I cried.

"Language," Dad spat at me, and I rolled my eyes the way I used to. God, he was acting like nothing had changed at all when both of us were dead!

"We're here," he said.

"Here" turned out to be a cave, whose opening was supported by old wooden beams. Neither Damon nor I could make it past the threshold, the same way we couldn't enter a house without being invited in, and so Dad went in for us.

"We've got two problems," he said once he was in.

"What?" I called after him.

"I don't speak Ancient Rune."

_Well that's just freaking great. We get to add Ancient friggin' History to this mess. _"And the other problem?"

"It's almost sunrise." Dad flashed me a sad smile. "And I have to go."

The tears I hadn't been able to find made themselves known as they came streaming down my face. Damon's arms circled my waist, and it was the only thing keeping me standing. "Oh," I heard myself say. "Oh. Oh, no… Daddy…"

"I know." Dad was crying too, if ghosts could even cry, and wasn't that something: A ghost man and his vampire daughter, sobbing over each other in a cave. "I know, Siddie. And right now I need you to know just how proud of you your mom and I are. We don't care if you're a vampire. We will always love you. We will _always _be proud of you. Nothing could ever change that."

Damon squeezed my waist, and I gasped back, "I love you too. Oh, Daddy, I will always love you. And tell Mom… Tell Mom I miss her. Tell Mom I love her."

Dad nodded rapidly. "And Elena, and Jeremy. Tell them the same. Please, please, tell them the same."

His eyes never left mine as shafts of light consumed him from the inside out. The last bit to fade was his mouth, which smiled at me even as it was pulled back to death. Back away from me.

When he was gone, my legs went out from under me, and Damon guided me to the ground, weeping. He muttered, "Oh, Siddie. Oh, I'm so sorry. My God, I'm so sorry."

His voice kept cooing over my hysteria, but louder, a Spanish-accented woman's voice said, "So you two are what all the fuss has been over, eh?"

I glanced up, and in the darkness of the cave stood the figure of a woman, her skin deep like a sunset beach, her hair in long, thick, luxuriously-dark braids. She wore a plain, linen shift, but on her head sat a crown woven of deep lavender flowers. Her beautiful face was fixed, emotionless, on the two of us.

"I must admit," she continued as if we knew who the fuck she was, "I was curious. I've heard much of the goings on here in Mystic Falls, the atrocities you two have allowed. I wanted a glimpse at the responsible parties."

As if we shared a brain, Damon spat, "Who the fuck are you, lady?"

The woman smiled a mouthful of rotten teeth. I flinched back. "You may call me Queen Acenith," she told us. "And I will see you very soon."

And just like my father, she disappeared into shafts of brilliant, bright, white light.

* * *

It was one of the worst things Keeley had ever seen, and she'd seen a lot of terrible fucking shit.

Lexi tortured Stefan. There was no other word for it. She threw vervain water on him, staked him in the chest, over and over and over. The worst part were the names: an endless list of names, all the people whose lives the Ripper had taken.

Stefan cried and screamed, begged for freedom, for Keeley's blood, for death, for this to just end.

Keeley blocked his cries out at three. At four, she could keep her eyes open, could watch Lexi as she worked. At five, she went numb.

Lexi's head perked up at some unseen signal, and stepped out of the cell, shutting the door behind her. She tossed the bloody stake at Keeley, who let it fall to the floor with a clatter.

"Sun's coming up," Lexi said. "I have to go." And even as she spoke, her body was already breaking into shafts of white light. "But this isn't over, Keeley. He needs you. He'll need you for a long time. It'll take weeks to get this completely out of him." She turned to Stefan then, crouched down to look him in the eyes and said, with a ferocity she didn't look capable of; "You hold on to her, Stefan. She's a good one. You hold on to hope."

And with one last smile at Keeley, Lexi was gone.

Keeley took a deep breath, crouched down, and grabbed the stake, wincing at the blood coating its handle. She rose to her feet, tucked the stake into her back pocket, and glanced at Stefan. He was stood up, leaning harshly against the bars. His eyes, bloodshot and rimmed with black veins, glared at her.

"Keeley," he purred, but when his mouth opened, it bared his fangs. "Keeley, she's gone. It's safe now. Let me out. Please, please, Keeles, let me out."

Keeley stared at him, and at his blood on the floor, at his blood staining her white shoe. And she thought about how he'd held her after she'd been kidnapped by the werewolves, again after she'd seen her mother commit suicide. She remembered the afternoons they'd spent in the bookstore and the coffee shop together, about their secret kiss in the pond. She thought about that horrible Senior Prank Night, about how he'd resisted until he couldn't, how he'd chased her through the halls, how he'd somehow managed to keep from killing her, even at the cost of his own humanity.

And Keeley knew that he'd been turned into this for her sake. He'd become the thing he'd hated most for her sake. To save her.

"You know," she said, still staring at the stains on her shoes, "I do love you. I meant it when I said it earlier. You've saved me more times than I can count. So no, I'm not going to let you out." She forced a sad smile at him. "It's my turn to be strong enough for you."

* * *

**A/N: So it is not Christmas, but it is Corona-season, heyo! I'm a writer, not a doctor or a nurse or a reporter, so there's not much I can do during this time, but what I can do is try and take your mind off things. I hope this helps. I finish my undergraduate degrees in two days, so I'm about to find myself with a lot of time on my hands. I'll try my best to use it to write. Stay well, and try your best to keep your spirits high. There's hope. This isn't forever. **

_**Next time:**__ Klaus is back in town, and Sidney finds herself torn between her loyalty to her family and her bond to her sire. _


End file.
